Astronaut tweets stunning pictures of Earth from space

Astronaut Chris Hadfield showed his support for the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team from space (Picture: Twitter)

Astronaut Chris Hadfield has been wowing people back on Earth, including members of the original Star Trek cast, with images he took while in space and then posted on Twitter.

The Canadian is currently on board the International Space Station but has taken time out of his mission to talk to followers on the social network site and interact with enthusiastic Star Trek actors, including William Shatner, who played James T Kirk.

Poti on the Black sea – you can clearly see the fishing boats and the loads of silt washing out to sea.

Mt. Vesuvius, Italy, on New Year’s Day, 2013. Looks a little like a remainder from earth’s difficult puberty years. :)

A view of the Suez Canal, as it opens into the Mediterranean. A great mix of nature and powerful human engineering

Andros Island, a lesser populated island with some great diving. At the bottom center you can see the island’s runway.

Two lakes, close but very different. Lake Hazar and Keban Reservoir, Turkey.

PEI on the last day of 2012, as seen from a window of the Space Station. (11:00 AM, 31 Dec)

Soyuz in the Desert – coming up to dock with the station with a view of the Sahara below.

Ibiza, Spain – lovely in the Mediterranean Sea.

Tonight’s Finale: I’m not quite sure! Ireland, Wales or England, through a gap in the cloud. Where is this port town?

The Bahamas, taken from the International Space Station (Picture: Chris Hadfield)

Key Largo, FL – home of the Aquarius underwater habitat; I commanded a crew of 6 for 2 weeks on the ocean floor here.

Delta Del Ebre, Spain – I love the echoing patterns that swirl into the sea.

St Mary’s County, MD – home of Patuxent River NAS, where I was a test pilot before becoming an astronaut.

El Ejido, Spain – you can easily tell where the people live, even from orbit.

Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and the town where I was born, Sarnia Ontario.

Baie des Chaleurs, New Brunswick, Canada. The name means ‘bay of warmth’, but the fingers of ice disagree.

Kiev, Ukraine – an historic major crossing place of water, rail and road.

So much of the World’s beauty is simply art itself.

St John NB – beautiful in the sunlit snow. Taken from the International Space Station, 2 Jan 13

Latakia, Syria – deceptively calm and beautiful, strife-torn on the shore on the sea. Peaceful from such a distance.

The ex-Captain in the popular TV and film series tweeted Hadfield after seeing one of his pictures.

He wrote: ‘@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB’

The astronaut jokingly replied to his fellow countryman: ‘@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.’

‘Dramatic’ volcanoes at dawn (Picture: Twitter)

Hadfield continued posting photos of his view above the planet, including images of volcanoes, the Bahamas and a snap of somewhere in Ireland, Wales or England.

Another Star Trek veteran George Takei, who portrayed Hikaru Sulu, then weighed into the conversation by posting the interaction between the astronaut and Shatner on his Facebook page, along with the words ‘this actually happened’.

Hadfield seemed to be on a roll and grabbed the opportunity to involve more members from the cult show by including the Twitter handle of Leonard Nimoy, aka Spock, in one of his messages.

The Bahamas also look stunning from above (Picture: Twitter)

The 81-year-old responded in a typically cool manner by writing ‘LLAP (live long and prosper)’.

The conversation then took another unforeseen turn when Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, waded in.

He wrote: ‘@Cmdr_Hadfield @WilliamShatner Neil (Armstrong) & I would’ve tweeted from the moon if we could have but I would prefer to tweet from Mars. Maybe by 2040.’

Shatner replied: ‘And I would have [been] delighted to tweet you back.

‘So we are 40 plus years too late but it’s still a pleasure to Tweet with you.’

Check out more of his stunning images below.

Poti on the Black sea – you can clearly see the fishing boats and the loads of silt washing out to sea.

Mt. Vesuvius, Italy, on New Year’s Day, 2013. Looks a little like a remainder from earth’s difficult puberty years. :)

A view of the Suez Canal, as it opens into the Mediterranean. A great mix of nature and powerful human engineering

Andros Island, a lesser populated island with some great diving. At the bottom center you can see the island’s runway.

Two lakes, close but very different. Lake Hazar and Keban Reservoir, Turkey.

PEI on the last day of 2012, as seen from a window of the Space Station. (11:00 AM, 31 Dec)

Soyuz in the Desert – coming up to dock with the station with a view of the Sahara below.

Ibiza, Spain – lovely in the Mediterranean Sea.

Tonight’s Finale: I’m not quite sure! Ireland, Wales or England, through a gap in the cloud. Where is this port town?

The Bahamas, taken from the International Space Station (Picture: Chris Hadfield)

Key Largo, FL – home of the Aquarius underwater habitat; I commanded a crew of 6 for 2 weeks on the ocean floor here.

Delta Del Ebre, Spain – I love the echoing patterns that swirl into the sea.

St Mary’s County, MD – home of Patuxent River NAS, where I was a test pilot before becoming an astronaut.

El Ejido, Spain – you can easily tell where the people live, even from orbit.

Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and the town where I was born, Sarnia Ontario.

Baie des Chaleurs, New Brunswick, Canada. The name means ‘bay of warmth’, but the fingers of ice disagree.

Kiev, Ukraine – an historic major crossing place of water, rail and road.

So much of the World’s beauty is simply art itself.

St John NB – beautiful in the sunlit snow. Taken from the International Space Station, 2 Jan 13

Latakia, Syria – deceptively calm and beautiful, strife-torn on the shore on the sea. Peaceful from such a distance.